A few months ago, I was on a beach in Southern Baja. As is often the case with driving in sand, people got stuck all the time, me included. For the most part, it’s generally a reasonably simple fix—air down a bit, bring out the shovels, and throw a few things under the tires. In the worst cases, pull out your tow straps (what do you mean, you don’t have tow straps?) and humbly ask someone for a tug.
We were standing under the van’s awning when a rented car full of large, white, sweaty tourists came flying down the beach. Quite quickly, they hit a deep patch of sand and got a little stuck. Within seconds, the driver did everything entirely wrong. With his front wheels cranked to the side, he put it in reverse and hammered on the gas. He, of course, immediately found that the back tires dropped a foot and now his bumper was buried. The occupants of the vehicle climbed out in their cargo shorts and commenced the biggest shit show of random pushing I’ve ever seen. One guy started digging out a tire with his hands while driver gunned it, one guy pushed from the back while the driver tried to back up, and another gathered a handful of tiny twigs and old cactus. Since we are assholes, we pulled out the chairs, opened a few beers, and sat back to watch the hilarity unfold. After a painful half hour, it became apparent that they had no idea what they were doing and would likely end up so sunk that the car would simply disappear. We walked over and, like the heroes we are, told them what to do, lent them a few shovels and a pair of traction ramps, then watched as they got unstuck.
The key in the situation in the video above is to not get yourself into it in the first place. If, however, you do… well, just hope no one as funny as this guy is filming it. Oh, and do yourself a favor. Watch the video in its entirety, but it just gets better and better.
